Rotary decoders - Good news / Bad news

[Guest LeoL]

Uhm...*cough cough* MY designs do not require 'modifications'. Richard had to figure out how to connect my design to his input board. :-roll :-lol Sorry Richard but I have a reputation to uphold. ;)-Leo

[Guest JMA]

Dear Leo, I know that the layout was make by you and I would like to thank you for this excellent job for us . I only asked Richard because he said that make same modificatins to work with FSbus ,but I don

[Guest LeoL]

Hi there...please don't take me seriously. I was only joking and took no offense by your statement. In fact I misunderstood what you meant by 'modification' and I apologize for my silly remark. I can be such a clown sometimes. You can get the 'modification' right here...http://www.betainnovations.com/hardware/do...pan16f_r200.zipI was waiting for Richard to confirm that it worked before posting it on my website.Cheers,-Leo

[Guest JMA]

OK Leo, no problem , let

[Guest RichardL]

Does anyone using the latest (mailed) Pan16s know the pin layout? Specifically:- JP 5 - 7: center is ground and outer pins can go to either directional pin (A or B)on the rotaries? - JP 1 - 3: no idea what pin goes where. There are four pins. - Power header: looking down on the header, left pin is ground and right pin is +5vdc?- JP 1 goes with JP 5?- JP 2 goes with JP 6?- JP 3 goes with JP 7?Thought I'd ask here while waiting for an email reply from Richard Alty.Richard

[Guest LeoL]

>- JP 5 - 7: center is ground and outer pins can go to either>directional pin (A or B)on the rotaries?Yes, that is correct.>- JP 1 - 3: no idea what pin goes where. There are four pins.JP1 - outputs for rotary 1Pins 1 & 2 are your outputs for cw pulsePins 3 & 4 are your outputs for ccw pulseYou have to connect these in the proper direction to match your external diode. The diode in the transistor has to point in the same direction as your external diode. As a matter of fact, you do not need to use the external diodes when using this decoder with scan matrix type input boards.>- Power header: looking down on the header, left pin is>ground and right pin is +5vdc?You mean on the actual board or on the schematics?>- JP 1 goes with JP 5?Yes.>- JP 2 goes with JP 6?Yes.>- JP 3 goes with JP 7?...and finaly yes.Hope this clears things up. Sorry for the confusion, but technical writing is not my forte. I'll revise the schematics in the hopes of making things a little clearer perhaps.-Leo

[Guest RichardL]

Thanks Leo! That helps.I should have mentioned this earlier. How do I connect to Scott's Photon input module? Richard

[rickalty 0]

OK, this replies also to RichardL's email, in case anyone else has the same question.Leo's comment regarding an external diode applies only to people using 'matrix scanning' type inputs - like hacked keyboards, for example.On those input devices, closing two keys at the same time can result in a third keypress 'appearing' to be made as current "backflows" through the two pressed keys into the matrix as if a third key had been pressed. To get round this, people scan type inputs have to put a diode on each connection so that current can flow in only one direction. The switches on the decoder boards are transistors, which are, in effect, diodes when the circuit is closed. They have to be wired in the same direction as the external diode, therefore, or no current can flow in either direction. Of course, what this means is that if you're using a scanning matrix input board that doesn't have internal diodes, you don't need external diodes, as the decoder fills that function itself. Now, for a common ground input device - like the Photon - no external diodes are needed anyway as there is no matrix to confuse - each input pin is connected to a common ground to make the cicuit. When connecting the decoder boards to a Photon or similar, therefore, all you need to do is take the ground connection of each pair of pins, and connect them all to ground, then connect the other of each pair of pins to an input, and you're ready to go. The pins on the Output headers (the four-pin ones) go A-A, B-B, then C-C, D-D and E-E, F-F on the third header. If you're not sure which pin is to go to the ground, just try it. If nothing happens, just turn them round. Only other thing to remember is that if you don't use the photons own power to drive the decoder, connect ground on the photon and ground on the decoder together.Richard